Darkest Days of the Fallen
by Helen Star
Summary: Magic is introduced to the world, but what will be the cost? The beybladers need to find new skills in order to survive. The darkest days have fallen. Death, destruction, witches, zombies, and the clue to what makes us human.
1. Ch1: Faint Whispers of the Life

The Darkest Days of the Fallen

Chapter 1: Faint Whispers of the Life

_The earth shakes and the sky darkens. The rumbling causes buildings to become unsteady, a several collapse. Thunder can be heard ripping through the air, taking with it the electricity of the city._

_A group of friends cling to each other as they run into the streets from the crumbling hospital. Screams and shouts surround them._

"_Hurry!"_

"_Keep up!"_

"_Don't let go!"_

"_What's happening?"_

"_Keep running!"_

_A bright light suddenly rips through the dark sky in front of them, shining a bright white. The rain starts to pour more, faster, almost flooding the broken streets._

_Their world began to crumble and fall apart around them._

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**Three weeks later…**

The sun was just starting to set in the western part of the broken city. The hanging dust clouds cast an eerie effect over the city making it look gloomy and unlivable. Water had been hard to come by of late, so Max was very fortunate to find such a big source so close to where they were staying. Though it was very dirty on its surface, so he had to hold the water jugs deep under to prevent too much dust from getting in.

As he waited for the bubbles to stop he looked over the city before him, trying to remember how it was before the Fall. The Fall, an appropriate name considering how the world had literally fallen all around them. No one really knew or understood what had happened; Max and the others had been trapped from the rest of the outside world.

Four large pillars of light had apparently ripped through the skies, causing terrible storms and earthquakes. It seemed that each pillar of light scarred the sky itself by leaving a brightened trail from its origin point.

Strange creatures had started to appear as well, creatures that shouldn't exist in the real world. These creatures were monsters of various forms, mostly bug-like and slimy. Anyone who got too close them would be attacked viscously and even eaten. they were also the reason no one could get close enough to inspect the origins of the lighted pillars, the closer one got to any one of the pillars, the more monsters they would find, almost as if they were guarding them.

Max sighed as he pulled the last jug out of the water, being careful about the dirty surface. He lifted the rope that held both jugs over his shoulder and started his trek back to their current home. It wasn't far from where he originally lived, with his dad in the hobby shop.

It was the old beyblade gym that he and the others use to meet in back in the day. Though the way things were now, there was no time to beyblade, so the gym was abandoned. It also was the safest place around. Being two stories it was hard for any of the cumbersome creatures to get into, and it served as a great look-out point.

As it came into view Max could see Kai at his post on the roof, his white scarf blowing in the wind. Kai simply nodded to acknowledge Max's wave as he walked to the door. Kenny was waiting by the stairs with Hillary to help Max pull up the water jugs and any supplies that he had managed to find.

"How have things been since I was gone? It's a little quite."

"They left," Hillary said quietly. Max was confused. Who left? Why?

"Hiro went to go find a real doctor and maybe other people. Daichi, Rick, and Tala went with him to help."

"So now there are five," Max simply stated. He knew that sooner or later they would all end up separating. Tala had never finished recovering from the injuries he received from Garland when the Fall happened ,so he was frequently ill. It would be better for him if he could find real medical treatment.

Although with Hiro being so frazzled lately, it was a good thing that Daichi and Rick were going with him. No one could really blame Hiro for being wound so tight? Not just the world going to hell, but loosing his brother right before…

Max had to stop his thoughts. He hated the fact that he couldn't allow himself to think about Tyson's death, but he knew he'd probably break down himself if he did.

"Ray has been awake though. So that's at least some good news," Kenny chirped in, trying to lighten the silent and sullen Max.

"Really? Is he actually feeling better?" Max was surprised. Ray had been feverishly ill for the last two weeks, another reason why Hiro was so concerned to find a doctor.

As Max climbed the stairs he could hear Ray's coughing from the back room. He still sounded sick, but the fact that he was up and awake might be a good sign. Max probably would crack if he lost another friend.

While he climbed the staircase to the second floor, Max briefly took inventory of the limited supplies they kept stored by the old beydishes that were now stacked in a corner. At least the ones who left didn't take all the food, its hard enough to find it in cans let alone not spoiled. He continued down the hall to the next room where they usually slept. Ray was sitting up in the corner of the window, a tattered blanket wrapped around him.

"Hey there," Max greeted as he stepped over the beds which were made from old practice mats. "I heard you were up. Feeling any better?"

"Better then I have been," Ray responded with a small smile. Max couldn't help but feel a little sad when he saw Ray smile like that. He knew that even though Ray still felt sick, he would always put on that sad smile, to try and help lessen the impact of his predicament and keep the others from worrying.

"So what have you been up to day? Just staring out the window?"

"Not really. I've been thinking mostly. I've had a lot of time for it."

"Thinking about what?" Max already knew the answer; Ray hadn't been able to cope with the change in the world as well as some of the others. He was constantly worried about his friends from his village and any of the other beybladers that he hadn't seen since that horrible day.

"Just the others, really. I know you're probably tired of hearing it though." Ray shifted to a more comfortable position in his window seat. "But I also wonder if Tyson is really able to rest."

"What? And why wouldn't he?" Max felt anxious now; he really didn't like to talk about Tyson's death. He'd prefer to just leave it as a memory and not keep dragging it back out.

"Well, he never got a proper burial. We kinda just left his body in the hospital."

"There wasn't any time and you know that. Besides, just try to think of the hospital ruins as his memorial site," Max had to bite his lip after that one. He didn't mean for it to come out as a bad joke, he was just saying how it was. "In any case you should be more concerned for yourself, and less worried about Tyson's resting place. You need to stay in bed or you might get worse and join him. Would that make you feel better?"

"No," Ray mumbled. After some more nagging, Max managed to get Ray back into his sleeping mat. After putting some of the extra blankets on him, Ray couldn't help but to fall back asleep.

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Kai opened his eyes to face the setting sun that followed Max to their safe house. After giving a simple nod to Max's cheerful wave, he turned to face away from the sun and into the wind. Kai couldn't be as strong as he wanted to be around his friends, so he pulled himself inwards, perhaps deeper than he desired. So deep, in fact, that all he could see was the shadowed memories of the bright days before the Fall.

He started to think back to the last time the team had simply relaxed at the Kinomiya dojo. The memory was always fresh in his mind. The image of himself leaning against a fence on the opposite side of the street brought back a flood of memories. He remembered the day he watched Ray bring in a strange girl to Tyson's family dojo.

At that time, he was going to avoid the new comer, since he was planning on seeing Tyson alone. He'd rather not have to introduce himself to a new person at the time, or even let Tyson get the chance to do so for him. He hated it when Tyson decided to put words in his mouth in front of new people. Though Kai did have to admit, the girl Ray had brought in was quite unique in her own way. Wearing a yukata out of season? And not even at a festival.

Curiosity finally pulled him towards the dojo, he could hear Tyson's greeting from the doorway. Ray also said a greeting, almost sounding surprised that he'd be there.

"So who's your new girlfriend?" Tyson shamelessly remarked while giving Ray a playful elbow in the ribs. Seeing the look on Ray's face, Kai wondered why Tyson always felt the need to push everyone past their boundaries, and well into their uncomfort zone.

Reflecting on it now, Kai realized that it was probably that precise trait that had made Tyson such a good leader. Not that he would ever say so to Tyson's face. Not even if that were still possible...

"Hey Kai, why don't you come in to eat?" call Hillary, breaking him out of his reprieve and pulling him back into the real world. "It'll be getting cold outside soon and we don't need you sick…" her sentenced trailed off as if she had to stop herself from saying 'too'. 'We don't' need you sick too.' He wondered if Ray had finally come out of his room.

Kai really didn't want to join them. With Ray being so depressed, Hillary being so over bearing, and Max trying so hard to keep everyone together, who could really enjoy that company. But the thought of food did bring a rumble to his stomach; they really hadn't eaten much in the last week, so they were all hungry. Kai's thoughts began to head back inside for a simple meal; maybe even an early bed, it might help ease his troubled thoughts.

"Aaaa "

Kai stopped as a shrill wind blew from behind him. He slowly turned to look over his shoulder in the direction it came from. Did he just hear a scream? Or maybe it was his over worked imagination? Pausing, he strained to hear it again. Just once more and he'd be able to tell. Living this life in the past month could get anyone's ear adjusted to hearing far off screams and cries for help.

"Kai? What are you doing up there? Did you turn into a statue?" Max joked as he popped his head from the doorway leading back downstairs.

"Be quite and listen," Kai told the other boy sharply. Max did as he was told, standing in the doorway, confused as to what he was trying to listen for.

"Aaaa !!!!!!"

"That is a scream!"

"Someone's in trouble, we need to go and help!" Max stated as he started to run down the stairs, Kai right behind him.

"What's going on? Where are you going?" asked Kenny as the two started to head for the exit door.

"Stay here and keep the lights off. We'll be back as soon as we can." Even if its just one person and it might be a futile effort, they couldn't let any more die if they could help.

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When they arrived, two of the bug-like monsters had their backs to them. They were in what remained of an old park, not too far from the beyblade gym. Max couldn't help but feel a little stupid about coming to someone's rescue with no weapons.

_Just what is Kai planning on doing to fend of the monsters?_

He doubted their beyblades would do much. Daichi had already determined that a long time ago. Throwing his beyblade at a monster in an attempt to hurt it only resulted in it becoming angry. And it started to chase them like a mad bull with red tinted lenses.

The person screamed again, it was a girl. She had crawled inside a tiny kid's jungle gym and the bug monsters were trying to grab at her and drag her outside with their large claws.

"Kai, what are we going to do? We don't have any weapons."

"Oh? I thought you had a plan," he simply stated, not really looking at Max's now angry and frustrated face. "Relax blondie. It should be simple enough to defeat them."

"Oh and how's that? By asking them nicely to go away?"

"I was figuring I could use you as bait. You're a faster runner than I am." Kai couldn't help but chuckle inward at Max's struggling attempt to start choking him. "See those poles over there?" he said, pointing to three flag poles that had broken off by the stairs to the park. "If we can stab it'll be an easy win."

"How do we do that!? Look at them! They're armored like beetles, we'd never be able to stab them!" Kai nodded in the direction of a group of seesaws by a large tree. "Huh?"

"Those are large enough to catapult them over right? You're still going to have to be bait by luring them over there. And I'll jump down from that over hanging tree."

"I hate you right now. If I die I'm coming back to haunt you."

"Right, then let's go."

Grabbing one of the sharp poles on the way to the tree Kai looked for a good place to start climbing. As soon as he found a good spot he waved his hand to signal Max that he was ready.

Taking a deep breath Max jumped down and began to shout at the monsters, easily getting their attention. Their already frustrated, hungry attention focused on Max and they began to charge at him.

Without really wanting to look behind him, Max began to run as fast as he could towards the hidden seesaws. He ran between two of the seesaws and turned to see where the monsters were currently at. The creatures had started to climb over the seesaws to try and reach him.

Kai had jumped off the branch and successfully landed on to the raised part of the seesaw and managed to flip over one of the bugs. With out hesitation he took the pole in his hand and jabbed it into the soft belly of the monster. It crunched like a cockroach. One down, but where was the other one?

"Kai! Behind you!"

Quickly turning he came face to face with the second monster. It swung its claw and knocked Kai to the ground, causing him to fling the sharp pole away. But Max grabbed the pole and began his own descent up the tree; he needed to hurry because the monster wouldn't stay on the seesaws for long, since it was struggling to get over them to reach Kai.

One, two, three! NOW! He jumped off, landing on the seesaws and launching the confused monster up and over. It landed on its back side and was trying to recover quickly by kicking its six legs around.

"Hurry Max and kill it!"

Tightening his grip, Max trusted the pole into the bug's under belly, its juices spewing out like water. Water? It was water! It was like poking a water balloon and water streaming out. It seemed like both monsters were simply melting away in tiny streams of water.

"What…What's going on? Why isn't it like blood or like real bug juice? Not that I'm complaining, but this just makes it weird," Max stated as he turned to look at an equally confused Kai.

"Hey, what about the girl?"

They walked over to the tiny jungle gym to see the girl already pulling herself out. She stood dusting herself off; dirt had clung to her flower patterned yukata causing the colors to look faded. She brushed her dark hair out of her face and straightened her headband.

"You!" Kai shouted at her. "In all the places and times why are you here?!"

"Nice to see you again too" The girl turned to look at her rescuers and smiled in response to Kai's angry face. Max being equally confused but not as frustrated as Kai was.

"Saiyo. Saiyo Ukikairi."

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The day began to darken into night, though Saiyo easily weaved her way through the fallen debris of old buildings towards what she now called home. It didn't take much to convince Max and Kai to agree to follow her there. No one should walk around at night these days. The monsters seem to only get stronger in at night.

"So, exactly what are you doing here all by yourself Saiyo?" asked Max as he stepped over what used to be the side of a building. "You should know that its too dangerous now to be all on your own."

"I'm not completely by myself," she said simply. "Though I do have to say that my current bunk mate isn't very…what's the right word for this?"

"So you have been staying with other people? But still, to walk out by yourself…" Max trailed off.

"There's only one other person. But he's unable to go out and do anything just yet. I had to get medicine so that he can get better."

"And where did you find medicine?" asked Kai, who was very curious about this revelation. If she really did have medicine, could there be some to make Ray feel better.

"At the base of one of the lighted pillars."

"WHAT?!" they both screamed at her.

"That's dangerous! There are very strong monsters there!" Max yelled at her, his hands shaking at her in a manner as if he was to strangle her.

"Not anymore! The pillar is gone!"

"What?" Max and Kai scanned the darkening sky. Two pillars could be seen towards the south and another one towards the west. But there indeed was only three, the fourth pillar had fallen.

"How…what did you do?"

"At the base of the pillar is a fountain with running water. When the water had stopped flowing, the light emanating from it disappeared. The monsters guard the fountains because they are a source of magic. The water from the fountain is pure magic!"

…………

"I knew you had screws loose," Kai said simply.

"I'm serious!" Saiyo yelled, stamping her sandled foot. "If you knew what I knew you'd believe it too!"

"Saiyo. You said you went looking for medicine. Why on earth did you go to the base of one of the pillars?" Saiyo looked at Max for a moment, a sad expression on her face. Max couldn't help but wonder exactly what she knew that made her believe that the water would be magical.

"Because I knew it would be there," she said after a long sigh. "I know exactly what's going on, how it happened, why it happened, and how to fix it."

"Then please, continue. I'm very curious as to why the world has fallen apart," Kai asked angrily. "We won't go any further until we've heard the whole story."

"Alright then. Remember when Ray brought me to the dojo?"

"How could I forget?" Kai muttered.

"He said he rescued you from some strange people with guns. Right?" Max asked. An image of the Kinomiya's living room with everyone sitting at the table came into mind. Tyson, Hillary, Kenny, even Max himself stared wide eyed at Ray and Saiyo, disbelieving that men with guns were after her. What was stranger was that Saiyo sat calmly and continued to smile as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"Though you didn't seem very worried at that time. What's that got to do with what's going on now?"

"You see…I'm a witch and they were planning on using me in experiments."

…………….

"See? I knew she was crazy from the get go," stated Kai.

"I'm serious!"

"I am too!"

"Enough!" shouted Max, startling them. "Just tell us what's going on!"

Max was getting agitated and Kai knew it. For Max to get worked up about this wasn't too much of a surprise, but Kai sensed that Max was trying not to find a reason to put blame on Saiyo.

Kai could though. The girl shows up, Tyson dies almost a week later, and the day after that the world literally crumples around them. That's reason enough for Kai to dislike this girl, though he was very curious to hear her whole story. And learn about this supposed medicine.

"Those men were from a secret organization called Majogari. Plainly put, they are witch hunters. They track down anything related to magic and use it to their own advantage."

"Majogari?" asked Max, trying the word out. "I've never heard of them. Where are they from?

"Various countries, their people all secretly work within different factions. I'm actually surprised that you haven't heard them. They had, for a short time, collected bit beasts as well." The grim face of Boris floated through Kai's mind, maybe that's why he was so intent on getting every powerful bit beast? Saiyo didn't seem like she was going to elaborate on the subject.

"So they were after you because you're a witch, huh?"

"What I'm called is an ichiko, magic user. I am not a being made up of magic, but I do know how to control it to some extent. My mother taught me most of what I know, she had very powerful spells, but in the end it killed her."

"What's the point of knowing how to use magic if it kills the user?"

"It's because there wasn't enough magic energy in the world to go around."

"And there is now?

"Yes, in the water from the fountains." She slipped her travel pouch off her back and pulled out a rather large water bottle. The water inside was so clear and pure looking, although it also had a faint blue glow to it as well. "This water is magic in its purest form. This is also the most powerful medicine."

"How so?"

"If one was to drink this then they would be completely healed from any wound. It can even bring someone back from the brink of death!"

"Is it really that powerful?" Max stared in awe at the faintly glowing water. If Ray could drink that, would he get better? Glancing over at Kai, Max knew he was thinking the same thing.

"You know, its getting late. We need to hurry before it gets too dark," Saiyo said meekly as she put the water bottle back in her pack.

"But you didn't finish explaining," said Kai, a little disappointed.

"I'll explain once we get to my hideout. Besides, I want to have my room mate drink the water before too long."

"Agreed. Then let's hurry."

It didn't take much longer to reach Saiyo's hideout. It was inside of the underground subway station, which was surprisingly sturdy and less damaged then the rest of the city. She led them into what was the security office, placing her bag on the front desk she continued into a narrow hallway.

The hallway opened up into a small room with two beds and a stack of small boxes filled with provisions. On one of the beds lay a figure covered up in thick blankets with his dark hair poking out from the top. Max supposed it was the 'bunk mate' Saiyo mentioned earlier, but it was rather rude of him not to get up to greet the newcomers.

"You seemed to have found a cozy spot to hole up in," said Kai as he jealously looked at the beds. They had been sleeping in bundles of blankets and sheets on hard cold floors while she got warm beds. "So why don't you wake up you friend here and introduce us?"

"Oh?" Saiyo looked over to the person still sleeping, but instead of rousting him awake she just smiled at Kai and Max. "Why would I need to introduce you? You already know each other."

"Excuse me?"

"He was lucky you know," she continued. "He was buried under a lot of rubble and wasn't breathing. Though with what magic I do know I was able to help. He won't wake up though; he's not finished being healed."

Max suddenly had an odd twist in his gut, why was he suddenly very uneasy? He walked over to the occupied bed and pulled a little on the sheet, hoping to get a glimpse of the face.

"No!" he cried, stepping back and dropping the sheet. He turned to Saiyo with a look of utter shock and surprise. "Why is he here? What have you done!?"

"Max, what are you…" Kai trailed off as he looked over at the person sleeping. His eyes going wide and jaw becoming slack in his own surprise. "but….that's Tyson!"

It really was him; Kai couldn't believe what he was seeing. The face was pale and his dark blue hair hung limply over his face, yet it was Tyson. He died though, right? Even so, during the Fall the hospital that he was in had crumpled completely. How could anything be recovered?

"Please, don't yell at me," Saiyo said calmly, expecting this kind of reaction.

"But you said…..that the person you had living with you was ill. Not dead!" Max continued.

"But he's not-"

"I was there! The doctors did everything! No breathing, no pulse! How is that not dead?"

"Max! Let her speak!" Kai snapped. "I want to hear her reasoning too." Max calmed, deciding to glare at the floor and try not to let himself cry. Saiyo let out a deep breath, steadying herself.

"Yes, he did die. When I found him, he was still dead. I know this is shocking and seems strange to you, but as of right now, he is alive."

"How can I believe you? I want to, but…but..." Saiyo let out another sigh as she grabbed Max's arm, leading him around to the other side of the bedside. "What are you doing?" Max asked though not really trying to pull away.

"I want to show you something." She placed his hand gently over Tyson's mouth and nose. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"Breath."

True enough, there was a slight, very faint breath leaving and entering. It was so very slow and shallow, that his chest didn't even seem to rise.

Max stilled himself in disbelief. Tyson is alive.

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Helen's Notes:

Okay, I did a little editing. Okay a good bit of editing. Okay, a LOT of editing.

I took out all of the flashback scenes, since I think it confused and turned a lot of people away.

But please don't kill me for torturing Tyson! Don't get me wrong, I love my little Takao! (_call him taco for short :3_) That's why he had to die. But don't worry, because its Tyson, you know he's bound to walk again. Mwahahaha.

Please do review though, it does inspire me to write more and lets me know if you readers are actually enjoying it. (_or am I wasting my time? sniff_) Please tell me I needs to know!


	2. Ch2 : The Power of Water

Darkest Days of the Fallen

Chapter 2 : The Power of Water

_The loud shrill of alarms rang through the hard silence of the hospital room. Doctors shoved aside anxious onlookers to aide the patient. The nurse counted loudly as a doctor continued to press the defibrillator against the patient's chest._

_They could only shake their heads as the pulse died away, the life slipping through their fingers. He was so young…_

_One of the doctors left the room as the nurse pulled the sheet over the body. The elder brother of the late patient stood there, already knowing what the doctor was going to tell him._

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Kai shifted Tyson's weight again. It was beginning to be a much longer trek then he had imagined. He saw Saiyo skipping ahead, looking like she was just going out shopping or something. Max was dragging up from the rear, carrying what supplies Saiyo deemed worthy to bring. Although, Kai muttered to himself, even if Max's bag was huge, it still couldn't be heavier then the dead weight he was carrying.

He shifted the weight again, Tyson's limp arm falling over his shoulder.

In truth he and Max both were also very tired from the fitfull sleep they had at Saiyo's hide away. Who could sleep? The body of their once dead friend was laying right next to them. That could put anyone in a sleepless mood.

"You guys look tired," Saiyo said as she turned around to look back at them. "Do you need a rest? Especially you Kai, your face has turned red. Hehehe. Is he that heavy?"

"Why don't you carry him and find out?" Kai grumbled as he trugged past her. As good as the idea of rest sounded, he prefered to get back to their own safe hideaway as fast as possible. Kai did not want to get caught outside, at night, with Tyson in this state.

"We'll rest later," Max said as he too passed her. "Rest when we need it, not when we still have energy to go."

They walked for about another half hour or so, the sun was directly over head and the temperature started to rise. Now it was break time. Kai leaned heavily against a cool stone wall as he tried to catch his breath. They found a small pavilion of what use to be a shopping center. Saiyo sat on a random stone bench and Max slumped down by Kai. Tyson, still wrapped in a blanket, was laying on one of the stone benches in the pavilon's shade.

If Kai had any doubts about Tyson still being dead were now gone, during the long hike the only thing Kai heard was Tyson's heavy breathing and steady heartbeat. Kai couldn't understand why a small weight seemed to lifted from his chest only to conflict with another bad feeling. Perhaps is was just worry about what the others would say when they saw him dragging Tyson's body into their home.

There was no denying fact that Tyson had died that day. Kai wasn't present at the time, which is probably why he wasn't as worked up as Max had been. He remebered the details that Tala had given him. He still couldn't figure out how the redhead managed to crawl out of his bed and made it down to Tyson's room in one piece. Though Tala himself was never a part of the team, not even a friend really, he still seemed to have some sort of admiration towards Tyson. Though, the words of Tyson's death still stung Kai's ears.

"_He was in pain,." _Tala had said. _"Writhing, gasping, it wasn't a pleasant death."_

Kai gazed at Tyson. He only seemed asleep, but what was going to happen when he woke up? Saiyo had said that for Tyson to return to normal he would need to drink the magic water from each fountain, but that's going to be difficult. All the fountains are at the base of the light pillars, and that's where the monsters are.

"Here, drink some." Saiyo was suddenly leaning over him with the bottle of the magic water. She wore a soft smile as she thrusted the bottle into his hands. "It'll do you two good, then we'll start hiking again."

"Doesn't Tyson need it?" Kai asked, wearily looking at the strange water.

"I had already given him some last night." She said pointedly. "Giving him more from the same fountain would not change things."

Kai sighed loudly as he begrudginly took the offered water. Opening the twist cap he first took a small sip, which lead into a heavy drink. The water had a nice, cool taste to it, which was odd since it hadn't been refridged or kept in any cool places. It didn't even taste all that remarkable, almost like regular tap water.

After Kai passed the bottle to Max, he suddenly found that he did feel refreshed. He felt as if he had taken a day's worth of rest with a foot massage. He looked at Max and saw a simliar surprised expression from him.

That was some good water.

Saiyo took the water bottle from Max and began to have Tyson drink some, proping the body up so he could drink without choking. It was still a little unsettling for Kai to see Tyson so lifeless, excepting the boy to start bouncing up happily _"Thanks for the water, I needed that"_ with a big smile on his face and laughing. Yet, there wasn't even a bat of an eyelash.

"Hey Kai," Max whispered softly behind him. "Would you mind if I carried him the rest of the way?" Max had been avoiding contact with or any discussion about Tyson. Kai assumed the blonde was at a similar conflict within himself about Tyson's current condition. Kai merely nodded his response and moved to pick up the large bag that Max had carried.

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Where were those two? They didn't return home yesterday after they had heard the scream. It couldn't be that far, could it?

Hillary gripped the lapel of her shirt as a sudden dread filled her. Could they have been injured? The fools didn't have any type of weapons. So much had happened since the Fall, losing so many people, being separated from her family and the rest of the world. She couldn't bare the thought of losing more.

Ray had started to cough again, though he merely rolled over back into his sleep. Hillary had stayed up most of the night with him, his fever came back with a deadly string of coughing fits. When Hiro was still here he had mentioned that Ray had the same symptoms as Tyson did. Although the difference was that Tyson's health seemed to rapidly decline while Ray's was more of a rollercoaster.

She silently left the room to move downstairs. Kenny was sitting on the bottom steps, druming his thumbs on the top of his lap top. The boy hadn't used it since the Fall, even though the batteries were still charged. Kenny couldn't seem to bring himself to actually use it anymore. Hillary couldn't help but smile, though he may not use his computer he still can't stand the thought of leaving it behind.

"What are you doing Kenny?"

"Huh?" he dimly turned around, obviously in a daze. "Nothing. Just waiting. I'm worried."

"Well, I am too but I'm sure that Max and Kai are fine. They might have needed to camp out or something." She mentally smacked herself for the over-positive outlook, it never helped relieve the worries, so why should one bother?

A sudden noise from the bottom door, the one they'd been using as a main entrance, forced them to turn. A familiar knock rapped as it opened.

"See Kenny? Here they are," Hillary said as she began to finish the descent down the stairs towards the door. They must have stopped to hunt for supplies since Kai was carring a heavy-looking sack through the door.

"Come help us with this," he said as he wrestled the bag to the side and turn back out the door. She could barely see Max's head, he was carrying something heavy too, but it was hard to see since it was wrapped in a blanket. However, not was all well.

"Hi oh!" Saiyo chirped as she stuck her head through the door. Hillary could feel her nerves twitch. What was _she _doing here? Hillary had nothing personal against the strange girl, its just she annoyed Hillary to no end. Why did Ray ever have to find her?

"What-Saiyo, where did you come from? Did the boys have to come save you again?"

"Actually they did. But don't you look happy to see me! You have such a nice smile."

What's nice about it? You obviously don't know me well enough to know this tooth-grin is not a happy face, Hillary thought to herself, glaring daggers at the other girl.

"Hillary, please can you help?" Max called out, trying to get through the door. "Move Saiyo, you're in the way." But as Hillary moved in to help, the blanket that was wrapped around his bundle fell away. Hillary felt her eyes widen.

"Tyson?"

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They all sat quietly as they ate the dull soup that Hillary managed to prepare. It wasn't much but it did help edge hunger away. Ray looked over his bowl at Saiyo, who sat by the mat they had prepared for Tyson to sleep on.

Ray couldn't figure out how he should feel about this though. There was a steady numb feeling that buzzed through his entire body. Yet, Ray didn't really want to dwell on it. Tyson is Tyson, alive or dead it was still Tyson.

Though, what occupied his thoughts more was what Max and Kai had related about Saiyo using magic. Magic? She's a witch? Ray didn't know why that thought unerved him so.

It didn't stop him from having a drink of the strange glowing water that Saiyo had brought, though.

Ray had to admit that he did feel better. Not a clean bill of health, but healthier then he had been. Saiyo said that he would need to finish the rest of the water, although slowly and in small doses, to regain his complete health.

Saiyo had started making plans for tomarrow, wanting to reach the second pillar in the west by the afternoon. She was very adament about heading off as soon as possible. Ray silently wished he too could go. He was tired of staying behind. And also…

He looked over at Tyson's bundled form in the corner. He really wanted to do something to help.

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**The next morning…**

"Are you sure about this?"

"Ooh! Lookie! They're like ants!"

"Saiyo! Pay attention!"

"If you yell, it's going to draw their attention."

Max, Kai, and Saiyo crouched down by a ledge of a three story building that was a short distance from the base of the pillar. Max was beginning to wonder if he should have stayed back at the hideout. Saiyo had the idea of practically walking up nonchalantly, "hey mister bug-man can I have some of your magic water?"

"I don't see why I just couldn't come by myself. I did the last time." She was getting impatient now.

"And you forget that we had to come rescue you in the end," Kai droned on.

"That was an accident; usually these things don't come after those with a magical scent. That's why we don't need to worry."

"We're not magiky like you are!" Kai snapped back. Saiyo merely bit her lip, as if she had a retort but decided against it. Max had to stifle a giggle though, Kai getting frustrated by this girl was kind of funny. It also reminded Max of the petty arguments that Kai use to have with Tyson.

"Listen," she finally said, suddenly serious. "Trust me okay? I know what I'm doing. The only hard part about this is when we go to leave. Okay?" Kai let out a hard sigh, giving up the argument. There wasn't much they could do but trust her.

They descended down to street level and began walking towards the lighted area. Kai and Max hung behind Saiyo, staring in awe at the monsters surrounding them. She did tell the truth, the monsters paid them no mind.

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This was not what Max had expected to find as a fountain. Most ideas of fountains revolve around statuette bowls with decorative spouts. Yet, this fountain was a building concaved into the ground with water pipes sticking out, spilling the glowing water.

Saiyo had already filled two water bottles of the water and had started on a third. She said that since there were more people in need of it now, it didn't hurt to have more of the magical healing waters.

"So, now what?" Kai asked, looking at the gathering monster wearily. He was getting nervous with all the strange bug-like monsters surrounding them and the water.

"I've got to cut the water's flow after I finish filling up this last bottle," Saiyo replied, not looking at them.

"Cut the water's flow? You never said anything about that."

"I didn't?" she looked up, slightly perplexed look came across her face. Max strained a smile, 'she's a definite space cadet' he thought.

"What's the purpose of cutting the water's flow?" Wasn't the magic water a good thing? Max believed that if the monsters weren't there, then people could use the water to help the sick.

"Because the world is dying," she said grimly. "Think of the world as a garden. If there was no water," she gestured to the glowing water. "Then the garden would dry up. Yet also, if there was too much water, then everything will drown."

"So, you're saying that there's too much magic and the world is breaking apart because of it?"

"Basically," Saiyo said as she capped the last bottle.

"Then how do we cut off the water?" Max asked while looking over the glowing pools. There wasn't exactly a faucet lying around. Maybe a magic faucet for the magic water?

"Carefully. Because once we close the flow, all these monsters will start to frenzy." Max and Kai looked at each other in an obvious panic. They were nestled in the middle of a herd of monsters, and she wanted to cause them to frenzy?

"Frenzy? What for?" shouted Kai, not liking his predicament.

"They feed from the water source. Once the water is gone, they'll begin to hunger."

Max and Kai glanced at each other uneasily. The thought of being caught in the middle of monster-central during a frenzy wasn't too appealing. They couldn't grasp as to why Saiyo was taking this calmly.

Saiyo handed Max the last bottle to carry, placing it in the large travel bag with the others. Then she hiked up her right sleeve and stuck her hand in the cool glowing waters. After making a few motions in the water, she quickly pulled her hand out. Just then, a rumbling could be heard.

"Now what did you do?" whined Max, not liking the earth quaking sound.

"Simple, I pulled the plug," she smiled. "Its time to go!"

The three of them quickly ran through the crowds of the bug-monsters, who were beginning to rush towards the empting fountain. The monsters seemed to pay the three no mind. Suddenly a jet stream of water busted upwards, creating a rainfall of the glowing water over the crowds.

"Don't stop running until we can't see the water jet," shouted Saiyo over the noise of their running and the monsters' charging.

"No stopping from us," Max replied, desperately clutching the bag over his shoulder. If they lost this water then it would have been all for nothing.

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Relief washed over Max as he spotted the old bey-gym that had been their home for the last couple of weeks. He didn't realize just how hard it was to spot in the evening without Kai sitting up there. Max stole a glance back towards Kai, who looked more worse for wear more than either he or Saiyo.

Though they weren't injured from their race with the frenzied creatures, exhaustion had deeply set in from their day of running. A couple of the creatures had even begun to follow them once the rain had stopped; each bug-like clicking had filled their ears for hours. Even now with home in site, Max was still very cautious towards any strange sounds that might have followed them.

Saiyo skipped ahead of Max, the water inside the one jug she carried sloshed around noisily. Max couldn't help but be curious about this girl. She called herself a witch, though he hadn't seen any spell casting, and she made a habit of being so carefree, even while in danger. While Max and Kai were frantically running from the creatures, she seemed to take it as an old fashion backyard race, with a big cheeky smile lighting up her face. As to how the girl could run so well in her sandals befuddled Max even more.

They were greeted by a very happy Kenny once they reached the door. Max hadn't seen the smaller boy like this in a long time and couldn't help but let himself smile. Hillary and Ray could be seen at the top of the stairs, Ray looking much healthier then he had been. Everything seemed to be look up for once.

"Excuse me! Coming through," called Saiyo as she bounded up the stairs towards the sleeping room. Presumably to give Tyson the magic water.

"You were gone all day," Ray said as Max and Kai made their way up stairs. "You had us worried."

"Sorry," replied Max, laughing a little. "You could say we had a bit of a run-in and then a run-out." Ray gave a strange look but didn't press for answers. Kai merely grumbled at the comment as he shoved himself past.

"Now that you're here I can start a supper," Hillary chirped as she began to head back to their sleeping room.

Everything was indeed getting better Max thought happily.

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"Well? Has it been activated yet?"

"No. The kyonshi is still sleeping."

"How much longer?"

"Just one more."

"It had better be. And the reijuu?"

"Don't worry. I promise. What about the key?"

"Its safe."

"The ghost?"

"We haven't found it yet. We believe it sits with the dragon."

"The dragon…."

"Just concentrate on the kyonshi."

"Don't worry. Just one more…"

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"Just one more…"

"One more what?" Kai asked as he walked through the door. Saiyo looked up at him from where she sat by the still sleeping Tyson.

"Oh, just talking to myself," she smiled happily back at him. "If we can get water from just one more pillar, Tyson may be able to finally move again. Well, on his own you know."

"Is that so? Well, I'm not going to the next rat-hole so you can try to kill us again." Kai pulled off what was left of his once-white scarf. One of the creatures pinchers had grabbed a hold of the left end and had torn if completely off. Kai was lucky enough not to have been choked by it nor be tripped by the hanging piece on the right side.

"Well I did say that I didn't need any help," she stated flatly, turned her back to him. "You were pretty much useless, at least Max carried the pack." Kai merely brushed off her sharp comments with his customary grunt of annoyance as he began to lay out his mat.

Hillary came in and began to rifle through their food supplies in the far corner of the room. There was a good bit of canned food left so she decided that two cans tonight wouldn't put too much of a dent in their supplies. Besides, she bemused, with Ray healthy again and Tyson coming back to life there was a lot to be happy about. So she'd make a treat by making the first flavored soup in weeks.

"Saiyo?" she called as she dragged out a few potatoes. "Do you think you could help me with dinner?" She held the spuds up in front of her, almost as if she was about to start juggling them. "I need someone to peel potatoes while I prepare the soup, do you mind?"

"Sure, I can do that," Saiyo said happily as she began to stand up, brushing off her yukata.

Max and Ray came in soon after, placing the pack with two of the water bottles by the rest of the supplies. Kenny came in with a large pot, asking Hillary as to where to place it. With all the help, dinner was prepared quickly and everyone was settled around the cooking pot awaiting food.

"So you were in the middle of the herd?" asked Kenny while he listened to Max and Saiyo chirp out the day's adventure.

"Pretty much!" Max spooned in a good helping of the soup before he passed it over to Saiyo. "I think that the pillar's fountain was in a school too. I couldn't really read any names on the building."

"From the direction you came, if it was a school, it would have been Bayville Middle School," Hillary stated as she sipped at her soup spoon. "I kinda wondered if it fell too."

"Though, when the new school year would have started we would have been going to the high school anyways," Kenny replied.

"No sense getting depressed about not going to school," Saiyo stated plainly as she began to drink her soup. "Most kids would rejoice not having to go back to school."

"But, there was a lot of memories there," Hillary said, looking down. "Besides, I'd give anything to go back to school now. To live a normal life."

"Don't be so depressing," Saiyo sighed out. "At least you're alive right?"

"Yes, I know. There's no point in trying to look back now is there?" Hillary said as she tried to crack a smile.

The rest of dinner was enjoyed in silence. Max and Kai went ahead and turned in for the night while Kenny helped Hillary finish cleaning the cooking pot. Saiyo, using the last bit of soup, busied herself by trying to feed Tyson. Over the short time she had to care for the unconscious boy, she became rather good at not choking him with spilled soup and water.

"How much longer until he's completely recovered?" asked Ray, who sat beside her, ready to help if need be.

"Completely?" Saiyo asked, quirking her eyebrows as she looked up in thought. "Not too sure for 'completely'. Though for being awake and such would be something else."

"Well then, when will he wake up?"

"We only need one more," she trailed off as she tried to keep Tyson's head lifted on to her lap while juggling the now empty soup bowl. "Once we get more water from another pillar, he should be able to wake up fully."

"Fully?"

"As of right now, he may drift in and out. In other words, the lights are on but no body's home." She laid Tyson's head back down to the mat and covered him up with the blankets as she handed the emptied bowl to Kenny for washing.

"Hey, Saiyo."

"Hmm? What is it Ray?"

"Exactly why do you need to give him water from each different pillar? If it was all the same kind of magic water, then couldn't you just fill him up with water from only one fountain?"

"Its more complicated then that," she said, looking at Ray sternly. "It's a basic healing magic rule. Each fountain and its magic water represent a part of life. To live, a person must have at least two of the three requirements."

"Requirements?"

"Body, spirit, and soul," she stated as she counted them off with raised fingers. "The water's magic is based on these life requirements."

"Sounds simple to me. But there are four pillars but only three requirements?"

"That's when it gets complicated. When all three requirements are combined together they become the symbol for life. With the magic of life, one could do just about anything."

"Anything, huh?"

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Helen's Notes –

Now things should be in order to get interesting. I know the chapters are rather long but it put everything together better right?

I promise that Tyson will be moving soon, he is starting to cause me problems by just sitting there.

As to note from the previous edits. Please don't forget to check out my devianart site. I have pictures of both Saiyo and Tyson up. I do hope to finish the other characters but its getting hard to put them all on one page like I want them too.

And as always, please oh please oh please review! The more reviews the faster I can write.


	3. Ch3: Regrettable Sadness

Darkest Days of the Fallen

Chapter 3: Regrettable Sadness

"_Tyson are you awake yet?" Max called as he threw the sliding doors to the dojo open. He saw Tyson laying in the middle of the floor, his back to him and not really making any noises. "Geeze, Tyson! If we let you, you'd sleep the day away huh?"_

_As he stepped in, he felt a damp coldness soak through his sock to his foot. Looking down in curiosity, Max stared at his stained foot to find out what it was, felt kinda like water or something._

_He stopped cold. His white sock was now a very deep shade of red..._

"_Tyson!"_

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"Its still too soon for you. Just stay here."

"I've been as healthy as ever, and I'm tired of sitting around here."

Max and Ray had been at it all morning. Once Saiyo exclaimed that she was preparing to head to the next pillar, Ray jumped in, saying he wanted to go as well. But Max didn't feel that Ray was well enough to handle the trek there and back. It had only been two days since his fever broke and the coughing fits had stopped. What would happen if he had a relapse in the middle of frenzied monsters?

Though, looking at Ray's determined face, Max knew he wasn't going to win this argument.

"Fine, but if you even so much as cough I'm sending you back, got it?"

"Thanks, but don't worry okay?" Ray was excited now. He hadn't been outside at all since the Fall. Though he couldn't begin to guess how he became ill in the first place. The best anyone could guess was that he must have picked something up from the hospital's wreckage.

After things had calmed down a little, they had returned to the site of the hospital's collapse, in hopes that they could recover Tyson's body, or maybe aid any survivors. Being knee deep in rubble and broken glass, he could have caught any number of viruses.

Kai seemed to be in a better mood then he had been last night. Unfortunately, his original plan to stay behind was thwarted by Max, who wanted an extra hand around in case Ray did indeed have to be sent back.

As they left, Kai couldn't help but take a longing look at his scarf, which was now tied like a flag to a pole on the roof. Saiyo's brilliant idea for the now-torn scarf made Kai feel irritated.

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Hillary watched the four head toward the northern pillar from the roof of their hideaway. She sighed as she turned to the door that led back down inside. Kenny had started to busy himself with sweeping the lower floor. Not that it mattered but it helped keep them busy.

Stepping into their sleep room, Hillary took stock of what food there was. There was some soup left over from the previous night. If anything she could add water and reheat it if she or Kenny got hungry during the day.

She stole a glance at the resting body next to the stack of supplies. Hillary couldn't help but sigh in relief every time Tyson's chest would rise and fall, signaling that he was still breathing.

Memories of that day in the hospital whispered through her mind. She and Kenny had become instantly worried when they saw the bright lights of the ambulance bounce off the tiled roof of the Kinomiya dojo. At first she believed that it was Tyson's grandfather who was being taken to the hospital, certainly not Tyson himself.

Max had stayed behind at the dojo to calm his nerves and wait for the others. Draciel's blader was a mess, his blonde hair disheveled and blood spotted his clothes. It looked like he was trying not to cry as he relayed the events of how he found Tyson to the officers that had arrived with the paramedics.

Hillary gently wiped Tyson's brow with a damp cloth and she pulled the blankets tighter around his body. She noticed that though his skin was still pale, it held a lot more color then it did when Tyson was in the hospital. And he was a lot calmer now too, she noted.

While he stayed in the hospital's ICU, Tyson was constantly coughing up blood and having trouble breathing. The doctors tried everything to relieve the pain and steady his rapid pulse. But it was almost as if his life was forcefully being taken from him, the doctors had said as they hung their heads, talking to Tyson's grandfather.

"What are you doing Hillary?" Kenny asked as he stepped into the room, pulling Hillary out of her thoughts.

"Nothing, just thinking," she said as she spared the boy a smile, but continued to watch Tyson sleep.

"Its great that Saiyo found Tyson right?" Kenny smiled as he came to sit next to her. "He'll have a second chance at life. Saiyo is really kind to go through all this trouble isn't she?"

"I guess," Hillary mumbled, beginning to feel agitated now. Its not like the strange girl had done anything wrong, but... Saiyo unnerved her, like hearing nails on a chalk broad or wearing an incredibly itchy sweater.

"Now what's the matter?" Kenny asked as he watched Hillary start to fidget with the folds of her skirt.

"Don't get me wrong," she stated plainly. "I'm glad she's going through all this effort to help Tyson. Bringing him back to life and healing his body with her magic…or whatever."

"Then the problem is...?"

"What is her reasoning?"

"What?" Kenny looked at her sharply. What was Hillary getting at?

"She said that using magic drains the user's life right?"

"Something like that."

"So why would she go through all of this to help a person she barely knows?"

"A good Samaritan, I suppose?"

"I don't know," Hillary griped the folders harder, as Kenny gave her more confusing looks. "But it bugs me. Why would she even be near the hospital and know that Tyson was buried underneath it? People don't just go looking for dead bodies to resurrect."

Kenny could only sigh silently, as he was at a loss of words to Hillary's open distrust of Saiyo. Kenny couldn't figure out what was supposedly so wrong with the proclaimed witch, and it baffled him that Hillary of all people had such a problem with her.

A bump was heard downstairs.

"Did you hear that?" Kenny asked, moving to stand up.

"Are they back already? They only left an hour or so ago," stated Hillary. Kenny could only shrug his shoulders at Hillary's question as he walked through the door to the hall.

A dark gloved hand suddenly grabbed Kenny by the neck of his shirt and roughly jerked him forwards, pinning the small boy to the wall.

"Kenny!" Hillary shouted as she too stood up, facing the door.

A strange man walked through the door, gun in hand. He nodded to his partner in the hall, who still held Kenny against the wall, as he made his way into the room with Hillary. It was difficult to read any expression on the stranger's face because of the black sunglasses that covered his eyes. Hillary knew better then to offer up any resistance as the gunman pointed a rather shiny pistol at her head.

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"Come on! Let's go! I bet Hillary has a nice lunch already set up!" chirped Saiyo as she skipped ahead of the three boys, looking no worse for wear. She was in stark contrast to her traveling companions.

"Saiyo, they're not going anywhere," huffed Max as he pulled his water jug higher up on his shoulder. The third pillar had been at a further distance than the previous two and hosted more of the monsters, who were most likely emigrating from the other two, now dry, fountains. Max kind of hoped that they would have no need to make the trip south to the fourth pillar, as it was clearly on the other side of the city. "Please slow down a bit."

"How can she have so much energy still?" Ray gasped as he tried to catch his breath. He indeed felt better from his illness. But after having laid in bed for weeks, he felt exhausted and worn out from all their running. He felt so out of shape that he was ashamed.

Kai followed the others at a much slower pace, practically dragging his feet as he went along. The only thing that currently kept him going was the thought of his nice cool mat back at the hideaway. But there was also the thought of Tyson. Saiyo did say that Tyson would wake up after he drank the water from the third pillar.

Looking back up at the sky from where they came, Kai could plainly see the normal pale blue coming back. When the previous three pillars of light danced in the sky, they had colored the day's horizon a pale yellow, almost green color. Now with only one lighted pillar streaming through the sky, the blue sky had returned. Maybe this was a sign that things could be back to normal, Kai hoped.

"Look see!" Saiyo suddenly shouted as she pointed in front of them. "I can see that rag we hung from here!"

"Rag…" Kai muttered angrily as he picked up his pace.

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"Hello! Anyone home?" Max called in after he set his water jug down by the door. Normally they would have been greeted by Kenny, who always smiled in relief that they had returned unharmed. Yet neither he nor Hillary greeted them, which gave Max cause to worry.

"Where are they?" Ray asked as he came to stand beside Max, a confused look on his face.

"I bet everyone's up stairs," Saiyo chirped happily as she bounded up the stair case, a water jug in hand. Without much else to say, Max and Ray followed her, while Kai stayed to move the jugs of the magic water into the shade.

"What's going on here?!" shouted Max's voice as it came down the stairs. An apparent thud sound following.

"Why are you here?" cried Saiyo, after which she suddenly yelped. Kai dropped what he was doing and hurried up the stairs to see what was going on.

Two men, both dressed in black, stood in the center of the room. The only difference between them was the color of their ties. The one with a blue tie had Kenny and Hillary tied and gagged behind him. He was also the one pointing a gun at Ray, who had been knocked to the floor. The other man wore a green tie, and held his gun pointed at the door where Kai now stood.

Saiyo had fallen beside Tyson's still sleeping form, the water jug had spilled slightly, soaking the blankets. She glared daggers at the two men but didn't move from her spot. Max was next to her against the wall, his back hugging against it as he made a face at the two men.

"Come sit nicely with you're friends, kid," The green tied man said, a grin playing on his lips as he gestured with his gun for Kai to move towards Kenny and Hillary.

Kai did so, wearily watching both gunmen. He calmly sat down by Kenny while looking at Green-tie square in the eyes. The man just let out a 'humph' as he smirked, putting his gun-arm down by his side, though leaving his finger by the trigger.

"Alright now," started Blue-tie. He reached into his pants' pocket and pulled out a small object. "Finish what you started girl," he sneered as he threw the object to Saiyo, who caught it easily.

"Saiyo?!" Max hissed. "What's going on?" Saiyo didn't respond as she fiddled with the small object, a spindle with black sting wrapped tightly around it. Quietly she unwrapped the string, easily tearing a small piece off and wrapping it around her right hand's thumb. "Are you not going to answer me?" asked Max, being agitated.

"Be quiet and sit down, blondie!" shouted the Green-tie, raising his gun again, this time at Max, who promptly scowled at him while lowering himself to the ground. "Miss, we don't have all day. Hurry it up!" he shouted again at the still silent Saiyo.

"I need to concentrate, quit yelling at me, Jack," she snapped back while tearing off another piece of string. She pulled Tyson into her lap, keeping his head resting upwards as she reached for his left hand. As she was tying the second piece of string around Tyson's left wrist she began to softly mummer a few words.

"You were using us weren't you?" Kai asked suddenly, in a harsh angry tone.

"You just now figured that out?" Saiyo said sweetly not looking up at him. "It was much faster getting the water with such caring people," she said, her words dripping with sarcasm. She reached for the half spilled water jug, and began to have Tyson drink it while she murmured more soft words. The water began to glow brighter.

"What are you doing to him and why?" Max cried out, his face turning red.

"You brats got a lot of questions," sneered Blue-tie as he moved his gun towards Max, ready to shoot. "This doesn't really involve you so just sit back and watch the show freckles."

"It does too concern us!" shouted Ray, distracting Blue-tie long enough to kick out the gunman's legs from under him. As Blue-tie fell backwards, the now loose gun fell to the floor, shooting off on impact.

"Arghh!" Jack shouted as the bullet hit him square in the chest. He fell back dropping his gun as well, gripping the spot where the bullet hit, turning his green tie brown from the blood.

Kai jumped up quickly, grabbing the fallen gun and directing the barrel at Saiyo.

"Just stop what you're doing to him," Kai growled out. Saiyo stopped feeding the water to Tyson and looked up with a smile which unnerved Kai. "What's your game Saiyo?"

"Game?" she asked sweetly, titling her head to the side as if she was confused. "But Kai, this isn't a game. This isn't a place were spinning tops decide the outcome," she said as she glared coldly at him, a smile still on her face.

"What are you talking about?" asked Max angrily. He had stood himself, grabbing the first dropped gun and kept it on the unmoving Blue-tie. Ray worked at trying to untie Kenny and Hillary from the thick ropes. "What are you planning on doing with Tyson? What is he to you?"

"A tool."

"A what?!" exclaimed Max, eyes going wide and mouth agape. "You can't do that! He's a person! He's-"

"Nothing but a broken spirit and a lump of flesh that has been pumped full of magic water," Saiyo cut in coolly, the smile fading into a stern glare. After propping Tyson's body against the wall behind her she stood up, brushing off her yukata. "So you're calling him a person again? And in present tense too?"

Max was stunned by Saiyo's response, only able to let his jaw drop as he became speechless. He couldn't believe this was the same girl that they had traveled with just a while ago. Even worse for her to call his friend… a tool?

Kai couldn't speak either as he stood there staring at Saiyo in utter shock, letting the raised gun drop.

"She's a monster!" shouted Hillary as soon as Ray took off her gag. "She planned this! Those men were talking about it while they waited!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her face. "It was all set up! Everything is her fault!"

Unaffected by Hillary's loud sobbing, Saiyo continued to busy herself with straightening her yukata and hair. She removed the headband that had rested securely on top of her head, lightly tossing it to the ground. From there Kai could see the inner workings of a hidden radio, built inside the headband.

"Yeah it was planned, big deal. That doesn't change the situation much, now does it?" Saiyo said plainly, returning her attention to the others. She carried another smile on her face, a cold uncaring one that mocked the shocked teens in front of her. Leaning back on the wall, Saiyo began to ruffle Tyson's hair playfully.

"So," Kenny said slowly, recovering from having his gag removed. "What's a kyonshi?"

"They said that much?" Saiyo asked in a playful manner. "Two complete idiots," she sighed as she stole a glance at the two downed men. She ruffled Tyson's hair again while gesturing towards Kenny. "This is a kyonshi."

"What?"

"Reanimated corpse, is its simplest term." She moved away from Tyson and off the wall to step closer to the center of the room. "Spell name is _kyou shikabane_. It's a very simple, but drawn out, work of magic. It's a pain, but it sure comes in handy. A part of the youjutsu, black magic set."

"What's this suppose to mean?" snapped Kai, taking a step forward and grabbing Saiyo roughly by the arm. "That doesn't tell us anything as to why you're doing this!"

"Do I need to tell when it can be seen?" she asked mockingly as she held up her hand with the tied string. But before Kai was able to retort a sudden dark shape jumped at him, knocking him to the ground away from Saiyo. Kai quickly stood, his back to the wall as he raised his arms to defend himself. Yet once he focused on what hit him, Kai's arms went slack as his eyes grew wide.

Tyson was standing in front of a smirking Saiyo, his eyes were still closed but his body held a simple fighting stance.

"Tyson!" Max cried, a lump in his throat constricted in his shock.

"No! His eyes are closed, he's still asleep!" shouted Ray, who was clenching his fists in anger and frustration.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Saiyo said smugly. "Even though its still not complete, it seems to work fine for right now."

"What- what did you do? Why is he-?" Kai started, shock and anger befuddling him.

"Can't you tell?" Saiyo asked as she wrapped an arm around Tyson's shoulder. "It's what a kyonshi is, a wraith, or in simplest terms - my puppet. He'll do what I say with out question or thought."

"But why him? Why Tyson?" cried Hillary.

"Now why should I bother telling my plans? Its really none of your business." said Saiyo as she shook her head and waved her index finger in the air as if directing a child.

"I wont let you get away with this!" shouted Kai, grinding his teeth. "You play with us and him as if we were toys! I wont have it!" Pushing himself off the wall, he made another lunge at her, extending his arm to grab the lapel of the yukata.

A blue fingerless gloved hand suddenly grabbed Kai's extended right arm. Due to his momentum and a pull from that hand, Kai found himself being tossed back to the floor in a hard flip. Kai could only groan as pain began to flare up in his back.

"Kai!" Ray cried out in his surprise, looking at his moaning friend with the still closed-eyed Tyson holding his arm.

"Whoops," Saiyo cheered mockingly as she peered down at Kai. "Though he is essentially a puppet on a string, there is still memory reflexes that effect the way the body chooses to respond."

"Memory reflexes?" Kai groaned, as he glared at Saiyo.

"Well Tyson was born and raised in a dojo wasn't he?" Saiyo chided. "So its only obvious that his body will still remember all those moves and techniques."

As Saiyo let out a small laugh, Tyson began to twist Kai's arm, building in it a painful pressure that caused Kai to yell in pain.

"Stop it!" shouted Max at Kai's yell.

"Alright then," Saiyo said calmly, as she smiled softly. She waved at Tyson, who stopped twisting Kai's arm. "I just want a little bit of info and then I'll take my leave."

"What information? You obviously have all the answers at the moment," Kenny stated boldly, causing Saiyo to glare at him harshly.

"Where is the dragon?" she asked flatly.

"Dragon? You mean Dragoon? Tyson's beyblade?" Ray asked, a confused look on his face.

"Yeah, that. Where is it?"

"Why should we tell you?" asked Hillary, her face red from her crying.

Kai suddenly yelled again as Tyson began to twist the arm again, this time harder then before.

"I'll have his arm torn off. That's why you will tell me," Saiyo stated coldly, not batting an eyelash at Kai's moans of pain.

"Hiro has it!" Hillary shouted, panicked what the witch could do to Kai. "Let him go! Please!"

"Hiro?" Saiyo quirked, not signaling Tyson to stop.

"Tyson's elder brother," Kenny piped in, also panicked. "he left to the south of here."

"That's more like it," Saiyo laughed out as she waved her hand to signal Tyson to stop. But instead of letting go completely, Tyson had leaned over and grabbed Kai by the neck of his shirt.

"Well its been a lot of fun," Saiyo chirped, "but its time we went our separate ways."

Easily picking up a straining Kai, Tyson tossed him across the room to the other teens. Ray managed to catch Kai but tumbled to the floor because of the extra weight.

In an abrupt movement, Saiyo slammed her hand against the wall by the door while muttering something under her breath. Before the teens knew what happened, the room shuddered, large spikes began flying out of the surrounding walls, caving the room in.

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Helen's Notes –

This chapter took a while in the process of things. And I took all that time rearranging the previous chapters too. meh. I also just didn't know how to handle the 'Puppet Tyson' thing. (_sniff I'm so mean to my taco_) And I made Saiyo crazy-evil! I didn't think I had it in me. I bet people are growling now. (laughes)

I have more on the way! Though what will I do? Will Tyson return to normal? Will everybody survive? Will Kenny get contacts???

Please review!


	4. Ch4: Back Story

Darkest Days of the Fallen

Chapter 4 – Back story

**One Week Prior to the BEGA Tournament**

Tyson sipped on a fresh can of his favorite drink as he relaxed in the dojo. The team had just gotten back from their training in the mountains and it was good to relax for a moment. Though the tournament against Boris and the BEGA team was only a week away, Tyson felt very calm about it.

Hearing someone call his name, he sat up just in time to see Kenny and Hillary walk into the dojo. Hillary chided him for lazing about as she sat down on the wooden floor, while Kenny laughed a bit as he opened his computer. Even though his quite reprieve had been interrupted, Tyson couldn't think of a better way to spend the day then with his friends.

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Ray just could not figure how or why he got himself into such messes. He looked to the young girl at his side, peering around the alley's entrance. She was dressed in a traditional Japanese yukata with a simple flower pattern sewn in. She turned to smile at him, her short hair tousled and falling in her face despite her headband.

"I think we lost them. But that was a good run! You're pretty fast!" she exclaimed as she leaned against the wall to catch a decent breath.

"Was I supposed to run slow? I wasn't about to get shot!" he snapped back.

"I guess you're right. Sorry to drag you into this mess," she giggled while still trying to be sincere. Though Ray couldn't be mad, it's not her fault that he got involved.

The strange girl was lucky that he had stopped by though. She had been cornered by two men, each pointing a gun at her as they glared out from underneath dark glasses. Truthfully, Ray didn't know what made him want to play the hero role. Yet he couldn't just leave a defenseless girl without at least trying to help.

"Well in any case you shouldn't be messing with guys like that. Not everyone is going to come to the rescue. You could get into some serious trouble like that."

"Yes, yes. Thanks Ray. But is there a place you could let me hide out for awhile? Those guys might still be looking for me."

"Umm…" Ray did know of a good place, however he wondered if bringing her there was that good of an idea. Sure, the Kinomiya's dojo is a good place to hide but he wondered how Tyson would feel about him bringing a troublesome girl there. "I have an idea, but we'll have to go and ask if you could stay."

"Really? That'd be great!"

"Oh, although I never did catch your name while we were running."

"Oh! I'm sorry. My name is Saiyo. Saiyo Ukikairi."

Ray couldn't help but smile as he turned towards the exit of the other end of the alley towards the dojo. Though silently wondered when he had told her his own name, but brushed it off. Did it really matter?

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Kai was leaning against a fence on the opposite side of the street as he watched Ray bring in a strange girl to Tyson's family dojo. He grounded his teeth in frustration. He hadn't wanted to meet any the new comers since he was planning on seeing Tyson himself.

He'd rather not have to introduce himself to a new person at the time, or even let Tyson get the chance to do so for him. He hated it when Tyson decided to put words in his mouth for him in front of new people. Though Kai did have to admit, the girl Ray had brought in was quite unique in her own way. Wearing a yukata out of season? And not even at a festival.

Curiosity pulled him towards the dojo to where he could hear Tyson's greeting from the doorway but not be seen.

"So who's your new girlfriend?" Tyson shamelessly remarked while giving Ray a playful elbow in the ribs. Seeing the look on Ray's face, Kai wondered why Tyson always felt the need to push everyone past their boundaries, and well into their uncomfort zone.

"Enough Tyson," Ray finally said, his face red from embarrassment. The girl gave a playful laugh as the Chinese blader pushed away Tyson's teasing elbow. "This is Saiyo, I... met? found? rescued?" He couldn't really find the right word to describe his first meeting with the girl.

"Rescued?" Tyson queered, taking a look at the girl. Saiyo smiled warmly and gave a cheerful wave to Tyson's questioning look.

"It's a long story," Ray sighed. "But is it alright if we come in? At least until she feels she can head home."

"Yeah, no problem," Tyson smiled as he turned to let the two of them in.

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Saying, 'look what the cat brought in' was a bit of an understatement.

Kenny sat in awe of the new girl that Ray introduced. This smiling, yukata wearing, girl was being chased by gun men? It was a bit hard to digest it. Yet, Saiyo seemed to be enjoying herself with their company. Although she might regret trying to think she's being buddy-buddy with Hillary. For some reason she's been tense ever since Saiyo came in and sat down by Tyson.

She chatted happily with Tyson about the actual dojo. Surprisingly Tyson was able to answer, by the way he acts you'd think he'd tune out any history lesson of the kendo aspect of his family. She claims that she's intersted in all old Japanese styles, which can come to explain the yukata.

"So you're saying you're family has lived here for almost two hundred years?" she asked wide-eyed.

"I think so," Tyson replied, scratching the back of his head. Probably wondering why she seemed so interested. Although Kenny couldn't help that he too was a little interested. He never heard much about the Kinomiya family line other then the kendo school. "My grandfather knows more in detail then I do, but from what I can recall the school started back in the late 1800s."

"Really? That's so cool." Saiyo smile broadend, and Kenny could sware he heard Hillary growl.

"So Saiyo," came Hillary, her odd smile plastured across her face. "Why don't you tell us more about yourself, hmmm?" The guys could tell by the look on her face and the tone of her voice that Hillary was not in a good mood.

"What do you want to know?" Saiyo chripped happily, seemingly uneffected by Hillary's strained smile.

"Like why you're here," Hillary said in a deadpan voice while glaring at the strange girl.

"Because Ray brought me here," Saiyo smiled.

"I'm aware of that," mummbled Hillary as she stole a glance at Ray who seemed to look away shamefully.

"So huh, anyway," Max interrupted, trying to distract Hillary. "Saiyo, why were the gun men after you? Did you do something wrong?"

"It was probably the fashion police," muttered Hillary sourly.

"I'm not sure who they were exactly," Saiyo said seriously, looking down at the table. "I think they were some of the men my father owes money to."

"What? Is he like part of the yakuza or something?" Daichi joked as he reached for one of the snack cookies on the table.

"Possibly," she said with a sigh.

"What?! Your family works with the mafia?" Max exclaimed, jaw slightly ajar.

"I don't know really, I just started living with my father," she replied with a smile. "But anyways, lets get off of that boring subject! So Tyson, since your family runs the dojo that means you practice too right?"

"Yeah?" Tyson responded, still scratching his head in confusion at this strange girl.

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**One week later...**

That morning had a brisk chill to it, as if something was just not right.

Did I leave the iron on? Max wondered as he walked down the street. He was almost certain that he unplugged it. Or maybe the stove was on? He did make eggs for breakfast. No, that's not it, because his father used the stove next. Maybe his father left it on?

Shaking his head to remove such silly ideas he began to force a smile. "I must not have gotten enough sleep, there's nothing to be worried about." It's a perfectly fine, normal day. Right?

By the time he arrived at the Kinomiya dojo he had whistled away his worries and was feeling a little better. Tyson's grandfather was already doing his morning work out in the front yard and Daichi was having fun joining in.

"Yo, dude! Have you come to see the T-man?" Gramps said with his usual smile, stopping his routine to be able to talk. Max couldn't help but laugh politely at the elder, he always found it humorous how the old man tried to talk hip and new. Though he could see why Tyson sometimes felt embarrassed by his grandfather. Tyson would always roll his eyes or try to bury his face under his bangs when ever Gramps called him by one of his nicknames, mainly little dude or the 'T-man'.

"Yeah, he said he'd like to get some extra training in today so I had offered."

"If he had needed a sparring partner then why didn't he ask me?" whined Daichi. "I'm his team partner after all!" Max simply shrugged his shoulders with a smile.

"Maybe he just wants to train like we use to when we were still the Blade Breakers. We haven't done that in quite a while."

"Humph! Well good luck waking him up. I think he actually slept in the dojo because he wasn't in his room when I got up," Daichi stated as he crossed his arms over the back of his head. "Though I can't really blame him. He was complaining about me snoring! Hehehe"

"I'll see what I can do. I'll talk to you later okay?" Max headed to the side of the building to where the doors to the dojo were. He couldn't help think that it was unusual that Tyson would leave his own room to sleep and not just kick Daichi out. Or maybe he thought it was too much effort at the time.

Daichi can be as or even more stubborn the Tyson at times. Daichi's chant of 'I want a rematch!' floated through Max's mind as he reached the doors of the dojo. He left his shoes by the stepping stones and readied himself to taking the task of waking Tyson up.

"Tyson are you awake yet?" Max called as he threw the sliding doors to the dojo open. He saw Tyson laying in the middle of the floor, his back to him and not really making any noises. "Geeze, Tyson! If we let you, you'd sleep the day away huh?"

As he stepped in he felt a coldness under his socked feet. Looking down in curiosity he looked at his stained socked foot to find out what it was, kinda felt like water or something. Wait...he had clean socks on before he left his house, they were white but how are they now stained...red?

"Tyson!"

Max rushed forwards to him, slipping on some more blood that seem to litter across the floor. The American blader gently turned Tyson to him, the fallen teen's breathes were ragged, his face flushed pale.

"Aw, what happened?" Max asked, frantic he looked around. Debating on how he was to go get help. Tyson carried a fever, it seemed so hot that Max hand seemed to burn. "I gotta go get help! Call an ambulance!"

He gently laid Tyson back down, having his back to the floor. Tyson began to cough, rough and hoarse, sore from constant coughing. As Max tried to stand back up to get help, Tyson's hand grabbed on to his arm.

"no...don't...leave," he choked out before coughing again. He gave Max a pleading look.

"Tyson!" Max gasped, surprised that the other teen still had the strength to grip to tightly. "Its going to be alright, you need to let go. I'll be right back, I promise."

After prying his friend's hand off Max hurry out of the dojo calling for Tyson's grandfather.

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Hillary and Kenny became instantly worried when they saw the bright lights of the ambulance bounce off the tiled roof of the Kinomiya dojo.

"What's going on?" cried Hillary as she began to quicken her pace, practically dragging Kenny.

"Do you suppose Gramps had an accident?" he replied, breathless.

As they came to the entrance way they could see the paramedics haul out a stretcher, being careful of the sidewalk's curve. The only thing Hillary could see was a pale hand, limply hanging off from the stretcher.

"That's Tyson!" she cried, recognizing Tyson's gloves that were still on the hand. She then spotted Daichi who followed the stretcher, his green eyes red from crying.

"Daichi! What happened?" Kenny shouted once they reached the red haired blader. Sudden thoughts of a BEGA sneak attack floated through Chief's head, something he knew Boris could easily do.

"I don't know!" the younger boy wailed. "Max found him like this! He and the dojo floor has blood all over it!"

"Blood?! From what?"

"That's the thing," Daichi sniffled, regaining composer. "There aren't any wounds or cuts. The medics think that he had been coughing it all up. And with the amount that's there, he must have been coughing all night."

Not being allowed to ride in the ambulance to the hospital, Kenny, Hillary and Daichi decided to follow, catching a bus at the stop a little ways up the street. Max had stayed behind at the dojo to calm his nerves while waiting for the others.

Draciel's blader was a mess, his blonde hair disheveled and blood spotted his clothes. It looked like he was trying not to cry as he relayed the events of when he found Tyson to the officers that had arrived with the paramedics.

When the three reached the hospital, Tyson had already been rushed to the ICU unit that was on the second floor. Gramps, who had ridden in the ambulance with them, was sitting anxiously on a bench near the ICU room, holding Tyson's red cap tightly. Kenny, who has known the old man for more the three years, has never seen him so grim before.

"Mr. Kinomiya?" Hillary called softly, drawing the attention of the elder. "Will he be okay? Do the doctors know what happened?"

"Not yet they don't," he sighed out. "They're still hooking him up to the units in there to monitor his vitals signs."

"Is there anything we can do?" Daichi asked, sitting beside Gramps.

"I need to call Hiro," he said sullenly. "And to find away to contact his father."

"We'll stay here, and notify you if there is any change," offered Hillary. The elder nodded gratefully as he stood to walk to the nearest payphone.

Soon after, Max, Ray and Rick had shown up, each breathless from running up the hospital stairs.

"Any news?" Ray asked hopefully, looking into the ICU's glass covered window.

"No, nothing has changed," Hillary said sadly as she sat down on the bench. "The only thing we can do now is wait for the doctor's report."

Over an hour had passed without any news. Hiro had rushed over as soon as his grandfather called him. He now sat with the others, concerned and worried about what is wrong with his younger brother. Though he did receive a few sneers from Daichi about being BEGA's coach, which were soon ignored.

"What's going on here?" came a gruff voice. Crusher had entered the hall and noticed the tense group.

"Crusher? What are you doing here?" Hiro asked.

"Coach? Well my sister is being treated on this floor," the BEGA blader said simply. "She's a few door's back down the hall."

"That reminds me, Tala's on this floor too," Max said as he looked further down the hall, trying to remember which one it was. He silently wondered if the Russian had regained consciousness yet.

The doctors eventually pulled away Hiro and Gramps, taking to a secluded part of the hall to talk privately. As more time went by, other members of their blading circle joined them. In total there was fifteen visitors for Tyson present.

Max's mom, Judy had brought in Michael and Emily while reporting that Mr. Mizuhara was watching over the still opened dojo with Mr. Dickinson. Through her, F-dynasty joined in along with Lee and Mariah. They had been all been worried when arriving at the dojo to find the Kinomiyas gone.

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It was the middle of the second day at the hospital. Though still unconscious, Tyson was coughing up blood and having trouble breathing, his heart rate was abnormally high. The doctors had tried everything to relieve the pain and steady his rapid pulse. But it was almost as if his life was forcefully being taken from him, the doctors said as they hung their heads while talking to Tyson's grandfather.

Tyson's friends stayed in the halls as they watched him struggle in the ICU. Only a handful that were there the previous day remained. Though Tala himself had joined them, learning what was going on from Mr. Dickenson who had come to see him.

"What are we going to do about the tournament?" asked Rick. "Its tomorrow and its not like there is a replacement for Tyson."

"How could you even think about replacing Tyson?" snapped Hillary.

"Look, its not like I want to," Rick defended himself, backing away from the girl. "But I doubt Boris is going to let us call it off with a doctor's note either."

The bladers all knew what Rick said was true, and the weight of it hung heavily on their minds. But who could really replace Tyson? And even if there was a replacement, would any of them want to blade while their friend is sick in the hospital?

A sudden loud beeping noise drew the teens' attention back to Tyson. The beeping came from his heart rate monitor, showing that his pulse quicken dangerously. He began to gasp for air and seem to writhe in agony.

"Tyson!" Hillary cried, her hands over her mouth in shock.

"Hurry! Someone go get a doctor!" Ray shouted. Raul and Julia took off, each going down one end of the hallway.

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The loud shrill of alarms rang through the hospital room, doctors shoved aside the anxious onlookers to aide the patient. A nurse counted loudly as a doctor continued to press the defibrillator against the patient's chest. Another nurse stayed on the other side of the bed, trying to adjust the breathing aid.

"Don't go yet kid," the doctor said as he tried to get the pulse going again. "One more time!"

"Sir! He's not breathing, there's too much blood in the lungs!"

"We've got to try! Clear!" a pulse from the defibrillator went off again, causing the limp body to jolt. "Again!"

"Sir, its already been five minutes!"

"But!" the doctor cried, only able to shake his head as the flat line trailed across the screen. He was so young…

The doctor left the room as the nurse pulled the sheet over the body. The elder brother of the late patient stood there, already knowing what the doctor was going to tell him.

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Guilt gripped Kai's heart as he walked through the quiet dark halls of the hospital. He was already too late, wasn't he? Standing at the end of the hall he could see the others outside of the room, muffling their cries and hanging their heads. What was he suppose to do? Why did he come? Romero had managed to tell him of Tyson's condition when the F-Dynasty's coach found him in the warehouse distric.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at the hospital with the others?" the older man had said.

"I've already been to see Tala," Kai snapped back, holding the new dranzer that was left for him there.

"I'm not talking about Tala. Don't you know what has happened?" Even after Romero left, Kai couldn't fathom why Tyson of all people would be ill, let alone hospitalized. It was a bad joke right? Besides, why should he care? He's Kai, he doesn't need friends.

But…he firmly gripped the new dranzer. Obviously Tyson has still yet to believe that.

Tala had spotted him, using a crutch for support and being mindful of some loose bandaging. Kai couldn't figure out how the redhead mangaed to crawl out of his bed to even make it down to Tyson's room in one piece. Though Tala himself was never apart of the team, nor really a friend, he still seemed to have some sort of admiration towards Tyson.

Though, the words of Tyson's death stung Kai's ears as Tala looked down at the marbled floor.

"He was in pain,." Tala had said. "Writhing, gasping, it wasn't a pleasant death." Kai could only nod his head. What was he suppose to say?

"Why weren't you here?" a came a strained voice from further down the hall. Daichi stood with his fists balled, as if he was ready to fight some one. "You were his friend right? So why weren't you here when every one else was..." the younger boy trailed off in to sniffles.

Just what was he suppose to say? Kai could only grit his teeth in frustration as Daichi started to wail loudly, filling the hall.

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The sky darkened and a rumbling echoed through the hospital, causing lights to flicker. The ground began to steadily shake, the rumbling growing stronger by the minute. Loud thunder suddenly ripped through the sky, taking the electricity of the city with it.

"What's going on now?" cried Daichi, who gripped the wall to prevent from falling to the floor.

"An earth quake?" shouted Kenny. Cracking noises could be heard all around them, the walls of the hospital began to crumple.

"We need to get out of here or we'll go down with the building!" shouted Rick. He grabbed Daichi under one arm and Tala under the other, as he began to rush down the dark halls to the stairs.

"Watch it! Or you'll reopen my wounds!" whined Tala, not like being manhandled in such a way.

"Be quite or I'll leave you here!"

"But what about Tyson?" shouted Ray, not wanting to leave his friend's body.

"There's not much we can do! Come on!" Max shouted back, pulling on Ray's arm towards the stairs.

Other people joined them in leaving the hospital, doctors and patients alike fleeing to the large glass doors of the exit. Heavy rain greeted them when they ran out into the streets which were now broken with various cracks and slaps of concrete.

"We need to keep moving! Try to stay away from any buildings!" shouted Hiro as he led the group down into the streets. He looked for his Jeep that he drove here with, but found it already crushed under heavy debris from the hospital walls.

Suddenly a bright light ripped through the dark sky in front of them, shining a bright white. The rain starts to pour more, faster, almost flooding the broken streets.

Their world began to crumble and fall apart around them.

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Helen's Notes

Okay, just in case any one's confused.

I'm using their original Japanese names because they sound better. What kind of a Japanese name is Granger anyways? But I'm using the English first names, i.e. Tyson and not Takao, because...that's how I'm use to calling them. ^.^;

In any case, I hope this clears up a little of what happened before the Fall. But don't worry more will come later about the nature of Tyson's sudden illness. You just gotta be patient. I'll be back in the present timeline in the next chapter.

And yes, lots of characters running around. I actually have tabs written out on where each one is and each particular time.


	5. Ch5: Picking themselves back up

Darkest Days of the Fallen

Chapter 5 – Picking themselves back up

Ray groaned loudly as he tried to rise himself up from the damp ground, his head throbbing painfully as he moved. Looking around, he could see only the rubble from the gym's ceiling scattered around him and his friends, who were unconscious but also unharmed. Large stone spikes poked out from the walls at every angle, trapping them inside the room. Ray was surprised at just how lucky they had been not to be impaled by the sharp spikes, or crushed by the crumpling roof.

Making his way over to Kai, Ray tried to shake him awake, causing Kai to moan loudly.

"Are you alright?" Ray asked the other.

"Been better," Kai mumbled as he sat up, both his head and shoulders aching. "What about the others?"

"Don't know, I'm going to try and wake them up now," Ray responded as he shuffled over to Max, Kenny, and Hillary. As if on cue, Max stirred himself awake. "Good, you're alright too," Ray sighed out.

"I think I hit my head," the blonde stammered, placing a hand on his right temple. After a moment he pulled it back, relieved to see no blood.

"Kenny, Hillary," Ray called, shaking the other two.

"There's no time," Kai said simply, standing to his feet while holding his injured shoulder. "We need to hurry and leave."

"And go where?" replied Ray, not looking at the duel-haired teen. "Are you planning on following them?"

"We have to try and break the spell Saiyo put on Tyson, right?" Max cut-in, giving Ray a grim look.

"Yeah, somehow," Ray answered, as he continued to try and shake awake Kenny.

"Well, then we have to get out of here first," informed Kai.

"Ugh," moaned Kenny as he finally came to. Hillary opened her eyes soon after that, but only to close them again from the on-coming tears.

"Why has this happened?" she cried softly, trying to make herself stop. "Everything was to go back to normal right?"

"Because we didn't anticipate Saiyo's motives," Kai said bluntly as he finished his circuit around the tiny room. "It's completely enclosed. So then where is the light source coming from?"

The room did hold a soft glow, lighting the area just enough to where the trapped teens could see easily. Kai looked for cracks in the walls and along the jetted stone spikes but could not find any holes that would lead to the outside. He stamped his foot angrily on the wet floor.

"The water," Kenny mumbled, looking at the damp floor. Also taking note of the small puddle by one corner. "Its from what magic water we kept in this room, that's why it's somewhat light in here."

"That water has brought us nothing but trouble," grumbled Kai, stamping the wet ground again. "Or at least the package it came in," he jeered, referring to Saiyo.

"But wait a minute," Kenny cut-in, struggling to get up. "If that was where we kept the water," he said, pointing to the puddle. "Then the door should've been over here, right?"

"Yeah? What does that mean?" jeered Kai, his patience thinning.

"The debris would be thinner here then," Kenny concluded. "Saiyo was in the door when she summoned those spikes so..." he trailed off, looking at the crumbled wall.

"Lets start digging then," Ray spoke up. "I don't want to be stuck in here forever."

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"You're late to report," grumbled a deep voice over the crackling radio.

"Gee, didn't know I was on a time table," jeered Saiyo, holding the radio lazily, as if she were to drop it. "Listen, you sending those two bond heads made me rush things. I could have played everything out better."

"Speaking of, where are my agents?"

"One was shot and I kinda of forgot about the other one," she sighed, bored of the conversation.

"Ugh. How many times have I told you to not kill the help?" the voice grumbled. "In any case, you need to get your 'puppet' working at full speed."

"I hear ya'," she jeered, looking over at Tyson. The spell for the wraith wasn't completely finished, still at the stage where most of her energy was used to move him. "The spirit is still broken, it will take time to heal before the wraith can move on its own without command."

"Did you locate its soul?"

"I know its general location," Saiyo explained. "But I can't retrieve it while lugging him around. I can wait a little longer, until the spirit is mended a little."

"Wont the soul get away?"

"The body and spirit will always be attracted to the soul," she said with a laugh. "The wraith itself will be able to track it down with out trouble."

"Then since you have to wait for the spirit to heal, why don't you come to base? I haven't seen my precious girl in a long time."

"Fine, I'm on my way," she cut the radio off and stood to stretch. "Tch, the old man is in too much of a hurry if you ask me," she complained, looking at Tyson's expressionless face. Using her index finger, she gently poked Tyson in the head. "Some company you'll be, you were much more talkative alive," she grumbled, receiving no response from the unmoving teen.

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The sun was just starting to rise when the teens finally cracked open the doorway. Each tired from the digging, they calmly filed out into the gym's upper floor hallway. Dust and dirt followed them in puffs of clouds as they made their way down the stairs.

"I'm exhausted," whined Max. "How long were we digging?"

"Four hours, at least," sighed Ray, taking a seat on the stairs.

"We don't have time to stop," Kai said sternly, moving past Ray and towards the door. "We should continue ahead while its still light."

"But Kai," Kenny complained. "We've been digging for hours, we have no supplies, and we don't know where Saiyo went! We should rest."

"I think we should find Hiro first," Kai said begrudgingly.

"Hiro?" queered Max.

"That girl is after Dragoon right? And don't you think Hiro should know what she has done to Tyson?" Kai responded as he moved closer to the door. He stopped to look at the jugs of water that he had placed there before they were trapped in the room. "Besides, we have enough water to last us awhile. I'm sure we can scrounge up some kind of food along the way."

"Ugh, you still want us to drink that magic water?" jeered Hillary, who had been silent the last few hours.

"No point in throwing it out now," sighed Kai, kneeing down to get a closer look at the three jugs. "Though I wonder why Saiyo didn't take any. You'd think she would use it."

"Maybe the only magic she can use with it was the one she casted on Tyson?" Max responded as he walked over to the jugs. "Lets go ahead and take them. The water may prove useful later. And its not like we could go to a fountain and get more since Saiyo had sealed them off."

"There is one fountain that's still open," Ray cut in, looking out the opened door. The others followed his gaze to the lightening horizon, a faint pillar of light could be seen coming from the south. "The fourth one, south of here, is still lighting the sky."

"Seems like we'll still be going south no matter what," Kenny replied.

"Lets get going then," Kai said gruffly as he picked up one of the three jugs. "I want to get as far as possible before sundown. Maybe find another camp or shelter before then."

"Right," agreed Max, also taking a jug. "If we stop now, who knows what will happen?"

"We've been going since its started," whined Kenny, though he took the last jug himself after tucking his precious laptop under his right arm. "I'm ready."

"Why don't you let me carry the last jug Kenny?" asked Ray. "You look like you're straining from the weight."

"No, I want to," the Chief responded, looking away. "I haven't carried any burdens since the after Fall. Let me share the weight too."

"Kenny..." Ray mumbled. Ray couldn't help but smile, somewhat understanding Kenny's reasoning, he patted the younger teen on the shoulder. "Alright but I don't want you carrying all the weight alright?"

"Thanks."

"Me too!" Hillary suddenly shouted as she snatched the jug that Kai was carrying. "Let me carry some too!"

"Whatever," Kai grumbled, not really caring who carried the jugs. "Let's go before you change your minds."

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The fires glowed brightly across the encampment. Varying smells of food wafted through the crowds of people that paced about. Each person looked worse for wear, clothes ripped or dirtied. Faces gaunt with depression and sadness.

Mariah sighed loudly as she looked away from the depressing crowds that surrounded her. She could only hope things would get better, but looking at the miserable faces around her made things seem like it could only get worse.

Mariah wrapped her arms around her knees as she stared deeper into the fire as it licked the sides of her cooking pot. She looked across the cooking fire to her teammate Lee, who sat in a trance as he silently watched passersby's faces.

"Are you still looking for Ray?" she quietly asked him, hoping to have some sort of conversation with him.

"Its been so long since we last saw him," he said after a long moment. "Not since we left the hospital the day before the Fall. I wonder if Tyson had been able to pull through? Ray was pretty upset at the time."

"I'm sure they're both alright," she said simply, finally drawing Lee's attention to her. "But you've been like a zombie for the past two weeks. I wish you'd talk more."

"I'm sorry," he sighed out. "I've just had a lot on my mind."

"Well a lot has happened," Mariah said, smiling a little. She was glad to have gotten Lee talking again, he had been in an unhealthy silence lately that it kept her worried. "Though we just reached this encampment, so maybe somebody has seen him."

"Yeah, but I haven't seen anybody that we know yet," he said, looking back out into the crowds. "I'm glad that we did leave Kevin and Gary back home though. I wouldn't want them caught up in this too."

"Yeah," Mariah agreed, slightly sad that her friends weren't here even though they were out of danger.

Suddenly, Lee abruptly stood up, surprising Mariah. Before she could ask what was wrong, he took off into the crowds. Shouting after him, Mariah followed, curious as to what Lee saw.

"Hey wait!" Lee shouted, grabbing a hold of another's arm. The arm belonged to another teen, dressed in a sports jacket and a cap covering his light hair. "Michael of the All-Stars right?"

"Who?" replied an agitated Michael, who spun around to face Lee. "Oh! Lee from the White Tigers! I'm surprised to see you here!"

Mariah couldn't help but smile when she caught up with Lee, seeing someone they recognize brought some relief. Looking at Michael convinced her that the American blader felt the same way.

"Is it only you two?" Michael asked, looking over the two Chinese bladers' shoulders.

"Unfortunately," Lee responded with a slight smile. "I was hoping though that you might have seen others."

"I've been here with Emily and a few others," Michael said simply. "Come join us, we have a tent set up not far from here."

"Who are the others?" Mariah asked.

"Miguel and Mathilda from Barthez Battalion and Brian and Spencer from the Blitzkreig Boys," he explained. "We were planning on packing up soon though, but you're more then welcome to join us."

"Where are you going?" Lee queered. "Is there another camp somewhere?"

"There supposidly one a little north of here, closer to where the BEGA tower once stood," he replied as he started to move through the crowd again, but keeping an eye on Lee. "Emily thinks its better then just sitting here and doing nothing."

"What's so important about going north?" Mariah asked, trying to keep up.

"You haven't noticed?" Michael queered, giving her a quizaled look. "I thought everybody noticed."

"Noticed what?" Lee asked. Michael merely pointed to the northern horizon, as if there was something impressive to be seen. "What? I don't see anything."

"That's the point," Michael explained. "There were strange pillars of light there when the Fall started. For sometime now they've been disappearing one by one."

"What?!" gasped Mariah and Lee at the sametime, looking back out to the empty northern horizon.

"They are gone!" Mariah finally said.

"The only one left is the one that's further south of here," Michael said as he then pointed southward. "Emily wants to see why the other's disappeared."

"Right, so when do you leave?" Lee asked, still looking at the cleared northern sky.

"In the morning actually," laughed Michael. "I guess it's a good thing you spotted me."

"Maybe if we go north with them we can find Ray," chirped Mariah, looking happily at Lee.

"Right, it is better then wasting time here," Lee said with a smile.

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Helen's Notes

What? What? I'm actually been writing? Go figure. :P

A beyblade mood hit me from out of no where so I'll be writing this fic for awhile. But what evils am I going to do next to the party? Ne? Mwahahaha!

Please leave a review, it makes me happy.


	6. Ch6: The next step

Darkest Days of the Fallen

Darkest Days of the Fallen

Chapter 6 – The next step.

_Kai looked across the broken bey dish at a smiling Tyson. The dragon blader's excited smile plastered across his dirtied face as he dusted off his favorite hat. Kai felt the swell of excitement of finishing this battle, numbly hearing Mr. Dickenson's speech about letting them continue the destructive beybattle. _

_He had waited a long time to battle Tyson like this, and from what he could tell, Tyson felt the same way. Even if Mr. Dickenson had canceled the battle, Kai was sure he and Tyson would have continued anyways, with out the chairman's approval._

_The crowded stands cheered the customary count down with Daichi's loud shouts. Blader D.J.'s microphone echoed the call across the stadium. "Three! Two! One! LET IT RIP!"_

Kai abruptly awoke as the sound of clanging and whirring noises drifted to his ears. He sleepily sat up, taking a moment to realize that he wasn't dreaming anymore. Looking around their camp, his gaze traveled across his sleeping friends and the dying campfire, noticing that one member was missing.

"Ray," he mumbled, standing to make his way to the familiar sound.

The Chinese blader hadn't gone far from their campsite, and Kai was able to find him easily. Ray stared at the broken concrete ground, focused on his spinning beyblade. He was so focused on his Drigger that he didn't hear Kai approach him.

"What are you doing up so late?" Kai asked, startling Ray.

"Oh, Kai. I'm sorry, did I wake you?" he apologized, calling his blade to him, catching it with ease.

"No," Kai mumbled. "But why are you out here blading? You should be asleep."

"Sorry. I've got a lot on my mind," Ray said, looking down at the beyblade gripped in his hand. "I thought a simple spin might help take my mind off some things."

"Hn."

"Its been quite awhile since I took Drigger out," Ray laughed a bit, smiling a little. "It felt good, you know? When was the last time you launched Dranzer?"

"I haven't even looked at Dranzer since we left the hospital," Kai said simply, looking away from Ray.

"Oh? Sorry, I guess it is a little hard to want to beyblade without Tyson around," Ray said, pocketing Drigger. "Um, how's your arm? Does it still hurt?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"It's fine, I'll survive," Kai mumbled, still not looking at Ray.

"Then if it's fine, why are you holding it like it hurts?" Ray asked sharply, sounding more harsh then he intended.

"Fine, then. Next time we'll let Tyson try to rip your arm out. How's that?" Kai snapped back.

"Sorry," Ray mumbled, embarrassed.

"And why do you keep apologizing for everything?" Kai continued. "It's getting annoying."

"I...um," Ray trailed off, not looking at Kai.

"Ugh, if you're going to be this way the least you could do is just spit out what's bothering you. We're all torn up about what has happened, but why do you get to have the pleasure of spending time being depressed about it?"

"Kai!" Ray gasped, surprised at Kai's forwardness. Usually Kai wouldn't bother butting in someone else's problems. Tyson would usually do that.

"Well? I'm waiting," Kai growled out, crossing his arms and giving Ray a hard stare.

"Well," Ray looked back down, avoiding Kai's angry stare. "Do you think he blames me?"

"What?" that took Kai off guard. He wasn't expecting a question like that from Ray. "Who blames you?"

"Tyson."

"Why would you think that?" Kai was curious now.

As far as Kai was concerned, Tyson did die and his body is being controlled by that witch. But the others firmly believed that there was a way to turn Tyson back to normal. And Kai didn't want to shatter that dream for it's the only thing that was keeping the others going. For Kai personally, he just wanted to foil Saiyo's plans and put Tyson back to rest.

"If Saiyo had this planned all along then, its my fault since I introduced her to him. Got him close enough to...," Ray trailed off, trying not to let the raw emotion of guilt take over.

"Stop being stupid," Kai snapped, causing Ray to look at him in abrupt surprise. "Its not like you knew her intentions, so how could any one blame you?"

"But..."

"Enough, I don't want to hear it. Ray, you didn't do anything wrong. Also we don't even know if Saiyo caused Tyson's death to begin with. All we know right now is that she's using him just as she used us to help her." Kai stopped his heated lecture to give Ray a good stare, from the look on the Chinese blader's face Kai could guess that what he said was sinking in.

"I'm sorry," Ray said softly, though smiling a little.

"Just stop with the apologizing already," Kai grumbled, turned back towards the camp. "And go back to bed."

Without a word, Ray followed Kai back to the campsite. The two teens could see Max had woken up, standing by the low fire as he watched his teammates return.

"Since we're already up, should we get going again?" called the blonde, a quiet smile on his face.

"The sun's not even up yet," Kai replied starkly. "We should get as much rest as possible before moving on. I don't plan on stopping again until the next sun set."

"There has to be an encampment around here somewhere, I'm sure if we move now we wont have to worry about camping out again," Max explained, while not really wanting to go back to sleep.

"Why is everybody talking?" Hillary grumbled as she began to sat up. She managed to give the boys a nasty glare while trying to rub sleep out of her eyes.

"Sorry Hillary," Ray said, laughing a bit at her disheveled look. "We were just discussing if we should get an early start today."

"Meh," Hillary grumbled, giving a slightly disgusted look. "We've been walking for HOURS and you want to 'start early'? My vote is no, go back to bed!" she shouted as she rolled back over in her blanket.

"See?" Kai sighed out, looking at Max and Ray, each with a slightly exasperated face. But before he made a move to sit back down, Hillary sat back up. She looked around, a confused look on her face. "Something wrong?" Kai asked, curious of her strange behavior.

"Is the ground, shaking?" she queered, looking back up to Kai.

"Shaking?" Ray asked, looking down at his feet, trying to feel any vibrations in the earth.

There was a slight tremor, a small rumbling could be felt but didn't pack enough force to cause a loss in balance.

"Great, just what we need," Kai mumbled, feeling the rumbling. "One of Japan's many earth quakes." 

"That's not funny Kai!" Hillary shouted, trying to stand up. She looked down to Kenny, who was still sleeping trough everything.

"Guys, I don't think its an earth quake," Ray said sternly, looking off into the distance. His face had gone a little pale.

"What do you mean?" Max queered, as he looked Northward, the same direction Ray was facing. A large plume of smoke could be seen, it was riding low to the ground and heading in the teens' direction.

"Stampede," Ray simply said as he started to gather their supplies.

"What?" shrieked Hillary, now too looking into the distance.

"Don't ask, just hurry and gather everything," snapped Kai as he joined Ray in gathering the supplies. He took a moment to kick Kenny awake, jostling the smaller boy from his deep sleep.

The rumbling became stronger as the large dust cloud came closer. Max squinted his eyes and could see a herd of monsters under the large dust cloud, their bodies messed together in a crowded run.

"The monsters from the fountains," Max said, as he relayed the information to the others. "I bet they're traveling to the last light pillar in the south."

"But I bet they are more likely heading this way cause we have their water," sneered Kai as he slung a water jug over his shoulder. "Let's get going or they'll run us over."

The group started into a dead run, with Kai in the lead.

8888888888

Mariah looked back over her shoulder as she stood patiently waiting for the others to catch up. They left the encampment at sunrise, and had only made a small distance. If she looked hard enough, squinting her golden eyes against the sun, Mariah could still make out the encampment.

"You know you don't have to run," gasped Emily as she came to stand by Mariah. The small brunette breathed heavily as she took a moment to clean her glasses. "We've only walked for two hours, so there's no need to rush."

"It's the fact that its been two hours, everyone's out of breath, and that I can still see our starting point, is what's making me want to rush," chided Mariah.

"Then if you had so much energy you should have carried a pack too," Emily sneered, adjusting the backpack's strap as if to make a point.

The two girls glared at each other, neither really making a move or pressing any issues. They were never good friends, usually bickering like this anyways. But Mariah felt more stressed around Emily then usual.

"Will you two just quite arguing," growled a voice. "I'm sick of hearing it."

The girls turned to see Brian, who kept walking past them, tugging along a heavy pack. He wasn't too thrilled about the idea of walking across the span of a destroyed city, but he wasn't willing to stay put at the encampment either.

Though Brian wouldn't say it, he was worried about Tala. The last he saw of his teammate was after the battle against Garland. He knew that the red-head had been severely injured, and had been in the hospital that had collapsed.

Trudging behind him was Spencer, carrying most of the weighted baggage. The large teen kept moving forward silently, almost like an oxen pulling a cart. Miguel and Michael followed shortly after, Michael gave Emily a warning look as he passed her.

"Come on, Lee!" Mariah called down the hill. "Or I'm going to leave you here."

"No need to shout," Lee snipped back, meeting her at the top of the hill. "I'm keeping my pace slow to match Mathilda." The two looked further down the hill as the small girl in question slowly climbed up to meet them.

"I'm sorry," she apologized as she breathed heavily. "I'm not use to this, but I'll be okay."

"Don't worry about it," Lee encouraged her. "We need to take our time anyways, don't want to wear ourselves out too much." He gave Mariah a stern look, as if he were talking to her rather then the smaller girl.

8888888888

Saiyo dusted off her floral kimono and straightened her hair as she awaited in the main office lobby. Two men in black suits stood by the door, neither giving her any attention as she clicked her tongue in impatience.

"Are you sure he is on his way?" she scoffed rudely at the two.

"Yes, Miss Saiyo," the one on the left end of the door responded. "Sir Reeves, your father, is currently heading this way. You'll have to be patient for his office is on the top floor."

"Fine, fine," she snapped, waving her hand to cut the man off. "I have better things to do then to wait around for that old man."

"Ah, and to think I'd be more loved by my only daughter," called a rough voice. Saiyo turned behind her to see a middle aged man. His suit was white with a red tie, and he leaned against a black cane with his right hand. His once black hair was speckled with grey lines, making him seem older then he really was.

"You forget," she sneered. "You may be my biological father, but I don't consider you much of one."

"Yes, yes," he sighed, almost laughing. "So, where is this wraith that you've made?"

"It's over there," Saiyo said simply as she pointed to the lobby chair behind her. There, Tyson was propped up into a sitting position, though back straight his head was slightly lowered.

"Hmm, he doesn't look like much," her father grumbled.

"I can have him punch you in the gut if you like," she responded cheerfully. As if to toy with the elder, Saiyo had Tyson's arm twitch, causing her father to jump back suddenly.

"That is quite alright," Reeves grumbled, straightening his tie.

"Well, I kept my end of the bargain, you've got the key?" Saiyo asked curtly.

"Yes, it is in the safe here," he responded, moving to a large picture. Taking the picture down revealed a metal safe with a simple spin wheel lock. Quickly turning the wheel, the elder opened it easily. "Though you should have been much more specific about what the key was. My agents were kind of taken aback when they retrieved it."

"Oh, so sorry that I surprised you peons," she said sarcastically.

Reeves pulled out a long, wrapped object from the safe. He took the time to unwrap it, revealing an old looking sword handle. He tossed it to Saiyo, who caught it easily.

"There is your key. Though it wont budge from its sheath, so I don't know how good it'll be for you," her father explained grumpily, closing the now empty safe.

"Of course you can't budge it from its sheath," she scowled. "If you could, then what would we have needed the kyonshi for? The ryushin blade can only be wielded by its chosen family, which are the Kinomiya's."

She took a minute to study the uncovered sword. Age tinted it a bluish green, though its ornate hilt gleamed brightly. There was a round insert in the center, designed as if it should have held an emblem.

"Though why did you make a wraith again?" her father asked, coming back over to the still Tyson. "Couldn't you just have had him wield it alive? Or at least his elder brother?"

"Cause the successor title went to Tyson, not his older brother. And I've already said that it was kind of an accident that he died, but then he shouldn't have told me no."

She tossed the sword towards Tyson. Standing quickly the wraith caught the blade, pulling it easily from its sheath. Reeves let out an impressed whistle, glad to see his daughter's magic in working order.

"And with that you can unlock the final seal, right?"

"Yes, but he needs to be completed first," she replied sternly. "Other wise, the last seal wont take our sacrifice."

8888888888

A dream gripped him. Holding him in darkness. Can't see, can't hear, can't breathe...

Shears of pain raced through his body, as if he were alight in flames. A painful numbness wrecked through his limbs, almost as though his bones were frozen.

The only thing that kept him company was the racing thoughts. Brightly lit images twirled behind his unseeing eyes. Were these memories? Or were they events to come? He couldn't tell.

Seeing faces that he thought he could recognize. Smiling, laughing, making him jealous and angry to watch others so happy. A boiling rage would fill his heart making him struggle against his bonds as the hot pain filled him.

But then there were the faces that were shouting, crying, crumbling into tears that he didn't understand. The freezing numbness made him ache, was this the feeling of yearning? Who did they cry for? For him? Or for another?

The flashing images fell like blocks, stacking up unevenly. The blocks didn't fit right, there were gaps and holes that left a void of empty emotion. He wanted to cry out in frustration. But the darkness swallowed up his cries and pulled the air from his lungs.

A voice called to him. Softly, sweetly, pulling him, tugging him.

"_Come find me."_

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Helen's Notes –

Okay, yeah. Its been a long while. I had the urge. Well enough of one to finish the chapter.

I had recently found out about the new fourth season of Beyblade that will be released next year. And so I couldn't help but get a taste for it.

Though I'm not sure whether or not to continue this story. Not many people seem to like it, or at least that's how my stats show for reviews and such. So all my readers, that are actually still reading this, please oh, please tell me whether or not to continue this story. Otherwise… I'll probably put it back in file and wont touch it again. Or worse, delete it.

I'd like to continue with it. But with out any of the readers' input the enthusiasm is kinda lost.

More notes – ryushin (basically means dragon sword) don't know if that's the official name of the sword, but it seems to work for it.


End file.
